Pitch Perfect
|released = September 28, 2012 |runtime = 112 minutes |country = United States |language = English |budget = $17 million |box office =$105,245,000 }}Pitch Perfect is a 2012 musical comedy film directed by Jason Moore. The screenplay was written by Kay Cannon, loosely adapted from the book of the same name by Mickey Rapkin. The soundtrack was released digitally on September 25, 2012, and physically on October 2, 2012. The film opened in theaters on September 28, 2012, and the DVD was released on December 18, 2012. Synopsis The story follows an all-girls a cappella group, "The Bellas" in their battle to beat the reigning national a cappella group, "The Treblemakers." Plot The Treblemakers are rocking their performance at the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella finals at Lincoln Center, while The Bellas are preparing to perform right after them. The captain of the group Alice tells Chloe and Aubrey, the only junior members of The Bellas, that she can't believe she's being forced to leave the group in their hands when the rest of the group graduates in the fall. The group goes out to perform, but stressed from all the pressure, Aubrey ends up getting sick and throwing up on the stage during her solo. Four months later, it is the beginning of another school year, and Beca Mitchell is on her way to Barden University, home of the Treblemakers and the Bellas, forced by her father, a professor in the university, to give college a try before giving into her desire to pursue a career as a DJ in Los Angeles. Upon arrival, she is greeted by a perky girl, serenaded by a stranger in a car driving into the university, and is placed in a dorm she has to share with Kimmy Jin, a Korean who wants absolutely nothing to do with her. To avoid her father, Beca attends the activities fair where she meets Fat Amy over a "Deaf Jews" booth she mistook for a DJing club, and later Chloe and Aubrey, the senior and only remaining members of The Bellas, who are desperate to recruit members after their embarrassment at the finals. Beca tells them that she can't sing and walks away. She then decides to go for an internship at the local radio station, where she meets the manager, Luke, and Jesse, the stranger who was singing to her earlier. Meanwhile, Jesse shares a dorm with eccentric magician and nerd, Benji, who worships the Treblemakers. A month later, Beca's father finds out she has not been going to class and chastises her for not getting involved more. He makes a deal with her that if she joins a club and proves that she's tried to be involved, he will help her get to LA and pursue DJing at the end of the year if she still wants to. Later on, Beca is singing to herself in the shower. Chloe overhers and comfronts her, begging her to join the Bellas. Chloe who says she will not leave until Beca sings with her, so the girls harmonize on a few lines of "Titanium." Realizing that this could be her ticket out, from Chloe's nakedness and her father's persistence, Beca agrees to audition. At the a cappella auditions, all hopefuls are told to sing a few lines of Kelly Clarkson's "Since U Been Gone" on stage in front of the schools existing a cappella groups. Beca decides to audition last minute, performing YouTube Lulu and the Lampshades' "You're Gonna Miss Me" with a cup after Chloe tells her she can perform whichever song she likes. Aubrey, skeptical about Beca, given their bad start when Beca dissed a cappella, is left speechless after Beca's audition, while Jesse watches her from backstage. Soon, the ten new members of the Bellas are traditionally inducted into the group, namely: Beca, Fat Amy, Cynthia Rose, Lilly, Stacie, Jessica, Kori, Denise, Mary Elise, and Ashley. Meanwhile, the Treblemakers welcome Jesse and Kolio, the new members o f The Treblemakers, with Benji not making the cut because of the Trebles' opinions of him. At the "aca-initiation" party later that night, the a cappella singers bond, party, drink and flirt, with Aubrey keeping a close eye on her girls, who had just vowed to not be involved with any of the Trebles. Later, however, Aubrey notices Kori with Donald, a Treblemaker, Mary Elise with another one, and Beca with Jesse, although they seem to only be speaking as friends then so she merely confronts Beca about it the following day, but she gets Kori and Mary Elise off the group. That night, Fat Amy and Bumper also officially meet, both flirting with and insulting each other. At practice, Aubrey's determination to stick to tradition and Beca's contemporary beats clash. Aubrey insists on using the same set list that The Bellas have been using for years which does not feature any contemporary songs. When Aubrey almost loses her lunch to stress again, Lilly asks them what happened to them at last year's finals and the girls find a video of Aubrey puking on stage. Aubrey then puts the girls through an intense practice routine, such as cardio, vocal exercises, and choreography practice of their old performance, among others, following a strict schedule, She also insists that the girls stick to a cardio routine which does not appeal to Fat Amy. Aubrey is very critical of the group, constantly putting down the other girls and saying that they are not trying hard enough. The following week, the girls perform poorly and are embarrassed during a gig for the Sigma Beta Theta's Annual Fall Mixer. Chloe then later admits to the girls that she has vocal nodes. Meanwhile, during her internship, Beca constantly provides Luke with several mixes she has made and he accepts them but stacks them aside. Beca then plays some of her mixes for Jesse who compliments her on her talent. He then tries to get Beca to watch a movie, which she apparently never gets to watch til the ending, particularly The Breakfast Club. At this year's "Riff-Off," the Barden University a cappella groups "battle" through song in an abandoned, drained pool with an audience, with a microphone used by Hoobastank as the price. A category is chosen and a group starts to sing, and another group can interrupt them by singing the same word the last group sung and connecting it to a different song. The first category "Ladies of the 80s" ends with two a cappella groups being disqualified leaving only The Bellas and Treble Makers to battle in the new category of "Songs About Sex." After singing "No Diggity" the Bellas lose to The Treblemakers. Despite their issues, The Bellas attend the regional a cappella competition. In spite of their bland set list, the group manages to place second at the regional a cappella competition thanks to Fat Amy's exciting solo. On the way to the semi finals, the group stops for gas where Fat Amy is hit by a burrito by the passing Treble Makers in their own bus. Screaming that she's 'been shot' the girls clean up Fat Amy and continue on the way to the venue singing their own version of Party In The USA. Fat Amy forgot to actually put gas in the bus after being hit by the burrito so the group is forced to call the Treble Makers to drive them to the venue. At state finals, Beca sees how bored the audience is with Aubrey's traditional arrangement, she provides impromptu back-up, mash-up vocals. The Bellas come in third in the competition behind the Treble Makers and thye Footnotes. Even though the audience was pleased, Aubrey was not and yells at Beca. Frustrated at Aubery's blindness, Beca quits the group. The Bellas then find out that the Footnotes have been disqualified as one of their members was really in high school. The group gets back together after spring break to prepare for finals, Beca is not included. Beca begins DJ-ing at the radio station during spring break to fill her time. She finds a copy of The Breakfast Club, Jesse's favorite movie, and watches it. She realizes how much she needs The Bellas in her life Her father convinces her to re-join the Bellas. Meanwhile, The remaining Bella are falling apart. Aubrey has vomited due to stress and anger, with Chloe trying to take the pitch pipe by force. The now complete-again Bellas have a heart-to-heart, and decide to kick things up a notch with Beca's 21st century mash-ups. At the national competition, The Bellas sing a piece arranged by Beca, including "Price Tag", "Don't You(Forget About Me)," the theme from The Breakfast Club. In the final scene we see the students lining up to audition for the acapellas groups the following fall with Beca amongst the returning Bellas member showing that she decided to skip moving to LA to focus on being in college and enjoying time with her friends. And also showing they won first place.(the trophy) The movie ends Beca saying the audition song, but it is unknown what it is. As she is cutoff, the song Toner(Instrumental Suite) leading into the credits. Cast *Anna Kendrick as Beca Mitchell *Skylar Astin as Jessie Swanson *Anna Camp as Aubrey Posen *Brittany Snow as Chloe Beale *Rebel Wilson as Fat Amy *Adam DeVine as Bumper Allen *Ester Dean as Cynthia Rose *Hana Mae Lee as Lilly Onakurama *Alexis Knapp as Stacie Conrad *Utkarsh Ambudkar as Donald *Ben Platt as Benji Applebaum *Elizabeth Banks as Gail Abernathy-McKadden *John Michael Higgins as John Smith *Christopher Mintz-Plasse as Tommy *John Benjamin Hickey as Dr. Mitchell *Freddie Stroma as Luke *Jinhee Joung as Kimmy Jin Soundtrack #The Treblemakers - Don't Stop The Music #Barden Bella's - The Sign, Eternal Flame, Turn The Beat Around #The Treblemakers - Let It Whip #Pitch Perfect - Since You've Been Gone #Pitch Perfect - You're Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone #Pitch Perfect - Riff Off #Barden Bella's - Party In The U.S.A #The Treblemakers - Right Around #The Barden Bella's - Just The Way You Are, Just A Dream #The Treblemakers - Bright Lights Bigger City, Magic #The Barden Bella's - Price Tag, Don't You, Give Me Everything Bonus track Pitch Perfect - Starships With Mike Tompkins Reception Pitch Perfect received generally positive reviews. It received an 81% "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 124 reviews as well as 65 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 30 "generally favorable reviews." It was also well received by audiences, who gave the film an "A" CinemaScore on an A+ to F scale. The film was mostly praised for its comedic approach, which some critics have compared to Bring It On, as well as the film's flashy musical numbers and Rebel Wilson's performance. NPR's David Edelstein selected it as one of the top movies of the year and Entertainment Weekly chose the soundtrack as one of the year's best. Home Media Development Casting *The role of Gail was originally offered to Kristen Wiig but due to schedule, Elizabeth Banks was offered the part. Production Gallery Pitch Perfect Title Card.png Tumblr mgcw8ua3Fa1qa5mrso1 500.png Pitch Perfect.jpg poster-01.jpg poster-02.jpg poster-05.jpg poster-06.jpg poster-07.jpg poster-09.jpg poster-10.jpg 38697578311.png K;hf.jpg Chloe2.png Chloe1.png Chloe.png Lily Rap.png Likemecareforyou.png Like A Boss.png Let's Do This.png L.png Kori.png Kimmy Jin And Friends.png Just The Way You Are.png Judges.png Judges Loving TBB..png Judges Finals.png Juanpa!.png Jeca.png Jesse movies.png Luke abss.png Aubrey puking.png Beca and Jesse aca initiation.png Itsnotadude.png Bumper and donald.png Inaudible.png Turnatcounty.png Puke angel.png Enough enough.png Aca initiation bumper fat amy.png Mermaid dance.png Chloe helping.png Stacie Audition.png On 3 or after 3.png Donald Stacie Riff Off.png Donald Stacie Riff-Off.png Jeca Kiss.png Jay-z song was on.png Lincoln Center.png Beca dance.png Don't stop the music 1.png Bumper stop.png Treblemakers from behind.png Treblemakers Harmonizing.png Justin.png Ill Protect You.png I set fires to fill joy.png Hunter.png Trivia *One of the movie's lines refers to being "pitch slapped." Kelley Jakle competed on The Sing-Off with the Backbeats, and one of their opponents was Pitch Slapped. *A special screening of the film was held on 25 September 2012 at the LSU Student Union Theater because parts of the movie were filmed on LSU's campus. The turnout for the screening was so great that only a little more than half of the students in line got in to see the movie. The producer saw that there were more students wanting to see the film and allowed a second showing immediately following the first. *The role of Gail was originally written for Kristen Wiig but she declined due to scheduling conflicts. Elizabeth Banks, one of the film's producers, eventually took the role. *ICCAs stands for International Competition of Collegiate Acapella. *The other two Barden a cappella groups are the BU Harmonics and the High Notes. *One of the categories shown during the riff-off is Songs Ruined By Glee. *Beca has an 'Allen Ginsberg' poster in her dorm room. *The gas station they stop at is Kean's gas station which is actually a dry cleaning business made to look like a gas station. *Brittany Snow said that Rebel Wilson improvised most of her lines and would go on 20 minute tangents that would have the whole cast and crew in stitches. *Available categories for the riff-off include Black Michael Jackson, White Michael Jackson, Songs About Sex, Ladies of the 80's, Overplayed Black Eyed Peas, Ugly Lead Singers, Reggae Time, Stadium Rock, Party Rock Anthems, The Judd's, and Famous Duets. The only categories exercised were Songs About Sex and Ladies of the 80's. *During the Riff-Off, Ester Dean sings S&M, which was co-written by her. *During the celebration party of the a cappella groups, you will see in the far right side of the shot that Chloe (Brittany Snow) is kissing the guy who was with her at the shower. Videos External links * *Official Website Category:Movie